Re: OT and VERY LONG - Knowing how to have fun...
- From: Jennifer in Ottawa <jennellh@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 22 Jan 2010 07:14:18 -0800 (PST)
I talk with my pharmacist first before asking my doctor to change an
allergy prescription or dosage - she knows my allergies and has also
recommended suitable cold meds and antibiotics. I don't need more
reactions in my life. jennellh
On Jan 22, 8:51 am, "Polly Esther" <Polly...@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
If you wrote that, Rita, =) you must be feeling a whole lot better than
most of us. Good grief. I honestly don't know how you've survived the
medical care. Exhausting - not to mention pushing your patience mighty,
mighty far. I think I needed to stay with your short version. A special
concern was one of your doctors prescribing something you can't take. What
if you were too ill or goofy to raise the question? Polly
"Rita L in MA" <> ...is clearly not a talent of mine!
Short story: I am doing fine and just need to get medications adjusted
- at least to the point where they will stop fighting each other!
Long story - Very long story:
Since about the middle of December, I have not felt as well as I thought
I should. For a while I just wrote it off to the holidays. On the
Monday after Christmas I decided to do something about that and called
Dr. D. She had me come in to the office that day. I was complaining of
rapid heart rate and light-headedness with just the slightest exertion.
She had some lab work done and did an exam. No problems found. Labs
were all good, lungs sound fine, blood pressure is under control,
everything is good as far as she can determine. She suspected that I
might be experiencing a side effect of the Tarceva that I am taking.
Neither of us wanted to interfere with that so she referred me to a
cardiologist who could probably prescribe something to keep my heart
rate down. I got an appointment with the cardiologist for New Years Eve.
The cardiologist did a routine exam, EKG, etc. and told me to come back
the next week when I would be set up with a heart monitor to wear for 24
hours and to get an Echo cardiogram when I go back to return the
monitor. That all worked fine and I just had to wait for results. She
scheduled me for a stress test on 1/21/10 (yesterday).
Meanwhile, I started to experience severe lower back pain to the point
where I couldn't get out of bed without an engineering plan! This, I
decided, was a job for my primary care doctor so I went to see him last
Thursday. One of these days I am going to change primary care doctors.
This one just doesn't give me the "warm fuzzies". He concluded that the
pain was muscular (and was probably right) and prescribed an
anti-inflammatory medication. I asked him to check to see if that was
O.K. with Tarceva (knowing that it wasn't). He looked it up and when he
saw that it was not, he said, "I don't know what else to give you."
:-\ So, I said that I would call Dr. D. for advice. She
prescribed two other pain relievers and I have been taking those for a
week with good results. (Really, really need to come up with a better
pseudonym for her)
Yesterday I was scheduled for the stress test mentioned above at 1:15
p.m. and I had an appointment with Dr. D. at 2:15 p.m. to get results
from the brain MRI that I had had on Monday. Everybody in the
cardiologists office knew that and assured me that there would be plenty
of time. Thankfully, both are in the same building because I arrived
for the test at 1:00 p.m., was wired up for it at 1:15 p.m. and then
waited, and waited and waited...
At 2:00 p.m. the receptionist came into the room and said that she had
paged the doctor and she would be back in 5 minutes. She offered me the
choice of waiting or being "unclipped" from the leads and going
downstairs for my oncology appointment first and returning for the test
afterwards. I chose to be "unclipped".
Results of the MRI are consistent with past ones. Nothing new found.
This is good. Everything else - labs, blood pressure, lung function,
etc. - are also good. No problems there. I go back in six weeks.
Back to the cardiologists office. It is now 3:00 p.m. The tech
"reclips" me and the doctor comes in within minutes. She does some
preliminary testing involving my lying down, sitting up and then
standing up several times. Her decision was that the stress test would
have no point. She could see what she needed to see without my having
to get on the treadmill. "You will just get tired" she told me. Then
she began thinking about what to do. We ran through my symptoms again
and her suspicion was that I was dehydrated and she wanted me to go down
to the Emergency room for a fluid infusion. She also wanted to alter my
medications which required that she talk to Dr. D. I suggested that she
ask Dr. D. if I could get the fluid infusion at Dr. D's office instead
of the ER. This surprised her as she had no idea that they could do
that there. She made the call, they talked a while about how to adjust
my meds and then I went back down to oncology where I spent the next 90
minutes in the infusion room.
When all was said and done, I got home after 6 hours at the hospital
with two new prescriptions, instructions to put away two that I had been
taking (in case they need to make a return appearance), feeling a bit
better but totally exhausted. Now, wasn't that FUN?
If you read this far I thank you for your perseverance. You are a truly
good person :-)
Thanks, as always, for the support that you all give to me in so many
ways.
Rita
--
Rita L. in MA - <One eyed> Mutant Ninja Quilter :-)- Hide quoted text -
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- References:
- OT and VERY LONG - Knowing how to have fun...
- From: Rita L in MA
- Re: OT and VERY LONG - Knowing how to have fun...
- From: Polly Esther
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